Betrayal Knows My Name (and it knows yours too)
by BeyondMyReach
Summary: There's the surface betrayal that exists between Doflamingo and Rosinante, and there's the underneath betrayal. The betrayal of brotherhood. Brotherly!Doflamingo/Rosinante & hints of slash. Canon Divergence.
1. Chapter 1

Spoilers up for Law's past. Just in case you forgot, Rosinante == Corazon. Corazon is a title, Rosinante is his birth name.

Cover image is by Nevamyne Bloodvixen on zerochan, #1797133.

* * *

"Please, please!" an obnoxious voice pierced through Doflamingo's mind. He was sitting in a chair, slouched back as he looked at the man who had crossed him. The man had his back faced towards him and his arms around something. Someone. A crying someone. "Please spare my child. He's innocent!"

Beside him, he could feel Rosinante stiffen at those words. Ah, yes, now thinking about it, wasn't this a familiar scene?

The child sounded a bit like Rosinante when Doflamingo shot their father, with his loud, uncontrollable sobs and his choked hiccups from crying so much. The noise grated at Doflamingo, but he could forgive him for that because Rosinante was like that when he was young too, always crying. The father, however, he was just -

Pathetic.

A smirk stretched across Doflamingo's face as he stood, waving Lao G, who was position between him and the father-son pair, to the side. It would be easy to let his subordinate kill the father or even kill him using his strings, but this required a special touch, didn't it?

Doflamingo brushed the ends of his feathered coat to the side and withdrew a gun. An image of what happened fourteen years ago overlapped with the scene in front of him for a moment as he extended his arm and pointed his gun at the father's skull.

The child's cry escalated. A little hand could be seen grasping tightly onto the father's arm.

Rosinante seemed to have finally unfreeze. Doflamingo could feel his brother reaching for him, and for a second, among the loud cry of the child, he thought that he heard his brother utter softly, in a shaken voice, "Doffy."

But his brother lost his voice.

Doflamingo slanted his head towards his brother ever slightly, taking in his whiter-than-usual-pallor and trembling hands. "Pathetic, isn't he?" he said to Rosinante, and without waiting for an answer - not that he _could_ answer - he pulled the trigger.

His brother jerked as though it was he who was shot, and the child's wail that followed almost appeared to have come from him as the body hit the ground.

Rosinante looked at the blood pooling beneath the still body and the child splattered in blood and bits of brain matter, before shakingly lifting his gaze to Doflamingo, eyes wide.

Doflamingo smiled, satisfied, and slipped away his gun. "That would teach them a lesson, don't you think, Roci?"

Rosinante seemed to have to physically pull himself away from the shock, before pressing his lips into a thin line. Like that mattered when he couldn't even speak. Then, he spun and stormed away, almost slipping on the ground before he caught himself.

Doflamingo watched him go for a moment, before turning to Lao G. "Take care of this, then head back to the ship."

Lao G nodded his acceptance of the order and Doflamingo turned to follow his brother.

His chest ached.

Xxx

"Roci," Doflamingo called out as his brother came into sight. It was not hard to catch up to him, since his brother was even clumsier when in a hurry. It was a wonder he didn't seriously injure himself with all the flailing and falling he did in and out of fights, but then again, that was what Doflamingo was there for. To look out for his foolish, younger brother.

There was a falter in Rosinante's steps, indicating that he heard him, but his brother, besides - interestingly enough - snapping his fingers, just kept going on.

Ignoring Doflamingo.

Annoyance slipped into Doflamingo's veins, like it naturally belonged there.

His brother should have known better than to ignore him.

Doflamingo exhaled and extended his hand, calling the power of his Devil Fruit. A few near-invisible strings shot towards Rosinante. He didn't want to hurt his brother - no one was allowed to do that - but he did need to teach him a lesson. If inhibiting his movement here at the pier and lifting him up in the air, helpless like a newborn kitten, would teach him that sorely needed lesson, that was what Doflamingo would do.

Doflamingo flicked his fingers upwards, bemused for a moment when Rosinante spun around and almost tripped over his own feet instead of being lifted up, before realizing that his brother somehow dodged his strings. The strings that were supposed to control Rosinante's movement were actually latched onto the floorboards of the landing stage.

A scowl made its way across his face as he detached those strings. How did his clumsy brother dodge his strings?

The question left his mind the second his eyes focused on Rosinante.

His brother's lips were moving.

For a second, illogical hope lodged into his mind. Did his brother recover his voice?

But no sound was coming from his lips, even as Rosinante made sharp, angry gestures that were impossible to decipher.

His brother still couldn't speak.

Suddenly, it was Doflamingo who was angry. Angry that his weakling of a brother lost his voice from a little trauma. Angry that even though Rosinante - enough though _both of them_ \- had gone through and survived hell together, in the end, it might have been Doflamingo who caused his brother to lose his voice.

Doflamingo stepped towards his brother, and his voice was like steel when he spoke. "Rosinante, you _know_ what kind of Family we are." _You've grew up with me. You_ know _what type of person I am._ "You will not get upset over one death." _You will not get upset over our useless father's death. You will not_ lose your voice _over that pathetic man._

Doflamingo grabbed his brother's wrist, pulling him to face him. His brother futilely tried pulling away, but he didn't notice that. All he noticed was his brother's lips, still vexingly moving and moving with no sound escaping from them.

His chest throbbed again and it was _stupid_. Weak.

It hardened his heart against his brother.

"Don't tell me you're still upset over our father's death," he said, his voice cold and full of contempt. Yes, that was how Doflamingo was supposed to be. He was not _weak._ Never again. He harshly tugged at Rosinante so he could just _look at him already_. How _dare_ his little brother avert his eyes from him, when Rosinante was the one who came crawling back to him fourteen years later after he first disappeared? When Doflamingo was the one who took care of him when they were young, and still continued to do so. His tone towards Rosinante was (unusually) deliberately cruel, derisive, as he said, "It was a long time ago."

Doflamingo finally caught a glimpse of his brother's face, and it made his stomach drop and his mouth dry ( _weak, weak, weak_ ). The liquid that glistened in his little brother's eyes was like the ocean surface under sunlight.

This was the first time he had seen Rosinante cry ever since he returned to him. If he initially thought Rosinante seemed odd because he no longer cried over every little thing like he used to, then this glimpse of the former Rosinante was even odder.

Those tears don't belong there, not in his little brother's eyes.

Rosinante's lips were moving again, shorter duration this time, and Doflamingo was so stunned by the sight of his brother's tears that he let Rosinante's wrist slip from his grasp when his brother pulled.

The sound of the ocean waves crashing filled his ears.

 _That idiot,_ Doflamingo thought, fingers moving to summon his power as though in slow-motion, _he pulled too hard._

He watched Rosinante tip backwards, surprise flickering across his face as the motion registered to him.

 _Reach him!_ Doflamingo willed his strings. They began descending towards Rosinante.

His brother's back was to the sea and just as Doflamingo's strings almost reached him, he crashed through the surface. His strings followed, but dissolved upon impact with the seawater, and his brother fell, going to a place where Doflamingo couldn't reach him.

"Roci!" Doflamingo threw himself to the floor of the landing stage, as close to the sea as he dared, heart hammering against his chest. When his brother didn't surface, Doflamingo cursed and hesitated for a beat before shoving his hand under the water, trying to reach his brother's sinking form. His strength immediately began to sap away from him. "Damn it, you clumsy fool. Swim! I know you can swim!"

Roci seemed to have heard him for a second. His head tilted back underwater in Doflamingo's direction, half-lidded eyes peering at him, through him, before they closed completely.

"Roci!"

"Young Master!" Hands pulled him back from the ocean onto the safety of the platform, and Doflamingo was snarling like a wild animal, like he was the same filthy child back in the street fourteen years ago, before he registered it was Lao G.

"Lao G, go rescue Roci!" He practically pushed Lao G into the ocean. If Doflamingo was in his right mind, he would have sneered at how his words sounded more like a plea than a command.

Lao G sensed his urgency, there was no way he couldn't have, and immediately jumped into the ocean.

It felt like forever before Lao G returned with Rosinante.

The second Lao G took his brother out of the water, Doflamingo was pulling his brother towards him, his blood pulsing impossibly loud in his ears. "Roci!"

His brother's body was cold, so cold and unresponsive. Doflamingo took a few precious moments to lay his brother flat against the floorboard, and then pushed at Rosinante's chest, more frantic than he had ever been before. For a few frightening second, nothing happened, and his heart constricted painfully in his chest. He was about to pushed again when he heard it: a small, pained cough. Then, Rosinante was spewing out the seawater that he swallowed.

"Roci, Roci," Doflamingo said, pulling his brother towards him. Strength began to sap from him again as Rosinante's clothes, drenched in seawater, made contact with him, but he merely pulled his brother closer. He had to, had to, feel it.

Against his chest, his brother's heartbeat weakly fluttered.

Relief rushed through Doflamingo.

"I'm bringing him back to the ship," he announced, sliding an arm under his brother's knees and another against his back so he could lift him up. He needed a checkup, just to be sure.

A hand extended in front of him, stopping him. Preventing him from tending to his brother. Anger flared in Doflamingo's chest as he traced the offending appendage back to Lao G.

"Youn _g_ Master, perhaps I should do it?" he suggested, tone still full of his perpetual respect for him, but also something else. "G! There's the G!"

Doflamingo's mind screeched to a stop and tried to re-orientate itself.

He was not ten anymore and Rosinante not eight. What was he doing, becoming so flustered, so frantic over this? What a sight Doflamingo must be. His brother was back for not even two months, and here he was, all composure lost at the first sight that he was in trouble.

He needed to distant himself.

Doflamingo nodded in agreement to Lao G's offer, and if his arms were stiff as he extended them to pass Rosinante to his subordinate, no one needed to know. Just before Lao G took Rosinante into his arms, his brother's eyes fluttered open. He blinked bemusedly for a few seconds, mind most likely disoriented from almost drowning, before his hands shot out, latching onto Doflamingo.

Specifically his wet right sleeve.

Ah, he saw Doflamingo losing his cool and reaching for him in the ocean then. His brother's eyes were wide, desperate and frightened, as he glanced down at Doflamingo's clothes, which were soaked after coming in contact with his brother's drenched ones.

Even without Rosinante saying, Doflamingo knew what his foolish, kind-hearted brother was thinking.

"Fufufufu, you don't think I jumped into the ocean after you, do you?" At those words, his brother's look of panic gradually faded. Doflamingo wondered if that was how he looked when Rosinante fell into the ocean and didn't come back up, like he almost lost something beyond precious. Then he wondered how truthful his words were. If Lao G hadn't arrived as timely as he had, would Doflamingo had jumped after his brother?

Even without thinking about it, he already knew the answer.

"Lao G will bring you to the infirmary and make sure you are alright," Doflamingo said, because he _knew._

His answer would always be no.

"You should have been able to swim back up before," he continued, his statement plain and simple if not for the accusing tone that he couldn't quite keep away from his voice.

Something flashed across his brother's face, but it was gone before he could read it. Did his brother hear the accusation in his voice, or was it in reference to the fourteen years that he lived without Doflamingo by his side?

Doflamingo had no interest in knowing. What exactly happened to his brother during those years and what trauma he had gone through alone, he would never ask. His brother, his _family_ , was here now.

Rosinante raised a hand and carefully gestured to his head.

"You hit your head when you fell?" Doflamingo asked, placing Rosinante down on the landing stage. He was probing his brother's skull for any bumps or dents before he even fully registered his action.

Rosinante nodded, wincing at the movement and looking slightly embarrassed. Doflamingo casually withdrew his hand after a moment, and reminded himself once again not to be so overprotective.

He stood instead, towering over his brother's form against the floorboard, and looked down on him.

"Go get it checked," Doflamingo ordered, referring to Rosinante's injured head. Rosinante looked at him for a moment, pursing his lips, but ultimately obeyed. His brother struggled to a stand with his gangling long limbs, before stumbling down the landing stage towards their ship.

"Let Lao G bring you, Roci," Doflamingo said when he couldn't stand watching his idiotic brother's bumbling movements anymore. He tilted his head in Lao G's direction, and spotted his nod of acceptance to the task. An amused smirk tugged at Doflamingo's lips. "With your luck, you'll trip into the sea again."

Rosinante turned around to weakly glare at him, but Doflamingo merely looked back at him, silently daring him to contradict. He knew his brother couldn't. Even when they were younger, Rosinante was unbelievably clumsy and prone to tripping. After a few seconds of their stare down, Rosinante let out a silent sigh as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

Doflamingo watched in satisfaction as Rosinante gestured Lao G to follow him and together, they headed back to the ship. Once Doflamingo saw that his brother and Lao G entered the vessel, he turned to the opposite direction.

He needed a smoke.

In hindsight, Doflamingo should have wondered how his brother could rub the back of his head without a hint of pain, when he implied that he hit his head so hard as he fell that he was unable to swim.

Xxx

It was always the heat that got to him, suffocating and palpable enough that Doflamingo _knew_ the scorching, all-consuming flame was near, but not so close as to actually burn him.

Not yet.

 _Twack._ An arrow struck the wall beside him, close, so close. Had it been a centimeter closer, he might have been dead.

His brother was crying in the background, his father pathetically begging for their lives. Those _ants_ were standing a few feet away, watching them, chanting for their deaths, their humiliation, their suffering.

Doflamingo hung from the window, arms tied and stretched above him, aching, _burning,_ from supporting his weight for so long. He was blindfolded, as though the only thing he could do was bare his neck to his captors and hope for mercy.

His brother was wailing, crying even louder. It fueled the anger growing in his chest, the helpless frustration at his inability to do anything. He shouted and yelled and screamed, but all to no avail.

This was not Mariejois.

This was hell on earth.

Xxx

Doflamingo burst up from his reclining chair, pulse hammering against his throat. He could still see it behind his eyelids. The flames flickering, stretching, reaching to claim him. His brother's cry echoing in the backgrounds. And the chants -

It took him a second to register the noise he was hearing was a knock on the door, and not the phantom _crack_ of a thrown rock breaking bone.

Doflamingo scrubbed his hand over his face, inhaling deeply, and slowly leaned back into the chair he fell asleep in, reminding himself that he was here, in the company of his own family, and that those _ants_ got what they deserved.

The knocking on the door continued, hesitant but also insistent, and Doflamingo wanted to send whoever was there away because he was in no mood for human interaction now, but he recognized the pattern of the knock.

"Come in," he finally said a beat after he composed himself.

The door cracked open and light from the hallway poured, chasing away the darkness. Rosinante stood right at the threshold, his frame bracketed by it. He had forgone his black feathered coat indoor and was only wearing his button down and white pants. He seemed smaller without it, somehow.

"How's your head?" Doflamingo spoke and Rosinante pulled out a sheet of paper with words written on it, like he had anticipated his question.

 _"I'm better now,"_ it read.

Silence hung between them, like always now that Rosinante couldn't speak. Doflamingo half-expected Rosinante to turn around and leave after he had informed him that he was alright, but instead he continued standing by the doorway, peering at Doflamingo with strange intensity. Like he was cataloguing every twitch of his face, every drop of sweat on his brow, every minute trembling of his limbs. Emotions flickered across Rosinante's face in rapid succession, all fighting for dominance, before one eventually settled after a long while.

Before Doflamingo could read his expression, Rosinante turned to the wall, flipping over the paper he had in hand as he did so, and scribbled on it against the hard surface. There was a beat in which Rosinante was done writing but seemed hesitant to show him the content, before he finally held up his paper so Doflamingo could read it.

 _"Can I stay here tonight?"_

Doflamingo stared at his younger brother. Despite the phrasing, Doflamingo had no doubt about it. His brother, despite all his foolishness, was also freakishly perceptive at times. He _knew_. He knew about Doflamingo's dream and consciously made an offer to stay with him for the night.

Him!

Doflamingo wanted to laugh and throw his brother's ridiculous kindness back to his face, because he was Doflamingo fucking Donquixote. He didn't need anyone to soothe him to sleep, he didn't need anyone to chase away his nightmares. Doflamingo created nightmares, he didn't _have them_!

Except what Doflamingo did to Rosinante that afternoon was still in his mind, specially its effect. His brother's trembling hands, his pale face and wet eyes, and him tripping into the ocean in attempt to get away from Doflamingo. It was a wonder Rosinante sought him out at all, instead of hiding away. After all, Doflamingo never asked his brother to give him an update on his status, yet as always, he somehow managed to read his mind.

"Come here," Doflamingo said.

There was the beat of hesitation again, and Doflamingo almost wanted to roll his eyes and feel annoyed because Rosinante suggested this, didn't he, but then his brother stepped out of the threshold and into his room and Doflamingo couldn't feel annoyed anymore as the door closed behind him.

"You want to sleep now?" Doflamingo asked, standing even as his brother nodded. Rosinante did look tired, with his drooping eyes and paler-than-usual face.

Doflamingo gestured to the bed and that was all the invitation Rosinante need before climbing in, immediately making himself comfortable. Whatever hesitation he had before was gone.

Doflamingo let out a snort of amusement before slipping into bed from the other side. "Oi, don't take all the blankets," he said, smacking Rosinante on the head. He made no mention of how close to the middle Rosinante chose to situate himself, despite the fact that Doflamingo had a king size bed now. It was no longer one of those scraggy beds that was a struggle to fit one person, much less than two. It was closer to the bed they had back when they were World Nobles in Mariejois.

Rosinante responded to his reprimand by snuggling even closer to Doflamingo's side of the bed, until he was intruding into his space.

"You idiot," Doflamingo said, a thread of fondness in his voice. He wrapped an arm around Rosinante and felt his brother shuffle closer to him, until his head was leaning against Doflamingo's chest. Doflamingo ignored his brother's action and bodily moved both of them back to the center of the bed.

Rosinante let out a huff at the movement.

"Go to sleep, Roci," Doflamingo said, having enough of his brother's shit. His brother nodded sleepily against his chest, then stretched his arm out until his upper arm was lying on top of Doflamingo's waist and his hand was against his back.

 _"Goodnight,"_ he traced against his back.

"Goodnight," Doflamingo said aloud, resting his chin on top of his brother's mob of soft hair. Rosinante's eyes closed and his breathing began to even out. This close, Doflamingo could feel Rosinante's warmth emitting from him. It reminded him all the more of their shared past and even though Doflamingo was so sure that he wouldn't be able to sleep after waking from the nightmare because he was never able to in the past, he soon found himself lulled to sleep by the warmth at his side and the sound of Rosinante's breathing.

Xxx

Rosinante's conscience plagued him during the day, but Doflamingo's always plagued him at night. Even Rosinante's presence couldn't change that-!

"Shh," someone whispered in his dream, voice soft and soothing among all the fire and cries for his death. "Sleep, Doffy. Sleep." A pause. "I'm here."

A hand smoothed through his hair, like a mother's touch.

His mother.

The fire and chants slipped away and he fell back into a dreamless sleep.

Xxx

Doflamingo woke up to Rosinante's hand resting on top of his head. Sometime during the night, his younger brother also shifted upward until his body was curled around either side of his shoulders with Doflamingo's face pressed against Rosinante's stomach.

It should be an embarrassing situation, and yet… Doflamingo lifted a hand to Rosinante's waist and pulled his brother to him until there was no space left between them, and inhaled deeply.

Rosinante's scent - sweet and earthy, almost sickeningly familiar - rushed at him, and whatever remnant of the nightmare faded to nothingness.

Rosinante stirred, and Doflamingo closed his eyes, his hold around his brother not slackening the slightest.

Let this moment last a little longer.

"Doffy?" a voice slipped into the room, sounding so young and addled with sleep. The hand Rosinante had on Doflamingo's head started moving again, almost subconsciously.

 _Like a mother's touch._

Doflamingo froze.

Rosinante must have felt Doflamingo freezing, since the next thing he knew, Rosinante was letting out a confused noise from the back of his throat, low and plaintive. Doflamingo hushed him without a second thought and smoothed his hand over Rosinante's back.

Rosinante quiet down and Doflamingo could pinpoint the exact moment when he fully awoke from the way his brother's body stiffened for a split-second, either from the position he found them in or at the sudden realization that _he just spoke when he was pretending to be mute._

Rosinante started moving, trying to surreptitiously slip out of Doflamingo's hold the same way he slipped out of his life fourteen years ago, but Doflamingo merely tightened his grip until it _must_ have been painful.

Rosinante let out a small gasp, and Doflamingo finally stopped pretending to be asleep, lifting his face away from his brother to look him in the eye. His brother stopped writhing, stopped breathing, and Doflamingo wondered what his brother saw in his eyes because Doflamingo was _beyond furious_ right now.

(The stab of betrayal hurt more than any injury, any insult or humiliation he had ever experienced. It _burned_ and spread like poison.)

"Going somewhere, Roci?" Doflamingo asked, his voice rough from sleep, his tone sweet.

It created an interesting effect: Rosinante's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed, lips parting slightly. He began squirming against Doflamingo's hold to reach for pen and paper.

A liar who lied.

Doflamingo considered tightening his hold for a moment, but then let go.

As his brother conversed with him using pen and paper - his traitorous brother who lied about his muteness when he had no reason to -, Doflamingo wondered just what else he had lied about as well.

Xxx

They were on the ship fighting against some no-name pirates that were stupid enough to think they could ever compete with the Donquixote Family. It had been a month since Doflamingo discovered his brother's lie regarding his inability to speak. After that, Doflamingo began paying attention to Rosinante's movements, and what Doflamingo used to chalk up as Rosinante's eccentricity now seemed more like evidence of his guilt. His preference for keeping to himself, his habit of sleepwalking to odd places of the ship, and even the incident when Rosinante couldn't swim because he supposedly hit his head, Doflamingo couldn't help but suspect.

 _How far did this farce of his extend?_ Doflamingo wondered, but even as that thought crossed his mind, he knew that the answer didn't matter. There was really only one thing he cared about.

Did his little brother really betray him?

At that thought, Doflamingo's movement faltered for a split-second and the small-fry that he was fighting quickly jabbed his sword at him. A fool that didn't know his place in life. Doflamingo shifted to avoid the weapon, but only succeeded in doing so at the cost of it piercing his pink feathered coat instead.

Doflamingo's eyebrow twitched. That was his favorite coat.

As he made a move to retaliate, he caught the sight of Rosinsnate in the corner of his eyes. Rocinante, who was looking at him with wide eyes and parted mouth, because from his angle, it must have looked awfully like Doflamingo had been stabbed. Shock and distress passed through his little brother's features in quick succession, and he wondered, are those also lies?

The fights around them were dwindling.

Doflamingo killed the small-fry with a String Bullet to the heart, and then flung himself off the ship.

"Doffy!"

Rosinante's shout, full of anguish and fear, echoed in Doflamingo's ears. He cared enough to unwittingly break his cover, in the very least.

 _The question was,_ Doflamingo mused, staring at the sky above as he tipped towards the sea, _would -_

Pink and black filled his vision.

Behind his tinted shades, Doflamingo's eyes widened.

 _If Lao G hadn't arrived as timely as he had, would Doflamingo had jumped after his brother?_

 _Even without thinking about it, he already knew the answer._

 _His answer would always be no._

Doflamingo and Rosinante crashed into the ocean, his little brother's hand just missing him.

They both sunk.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed reading! I'll post the second part of this as soon as I'm done.


	2. Chapter 2

**Warnings:** Implied/Referenced Torture, Background Character Deaths, Description of Blood & Violence, Slash

* * *

"Young Master! Young Master!" someone shouted frantically, and fuck, Doflamingo felt sick. He rolled to the side and promptly threw up. Water splashed against the wooden deck. "Young Master!"

"Shut up!" Doflamingo groused, annoyed for a moment before his heart abruptly clenched as he _remembered_. He spun around wildly, looking for familiar blond hair. "Roci!"

"He's fine, Young Master!" Baby 5's childish voice shouted. The relief that hit him was not unexpected, but painful. She continued, "Rosinante talked, he talked! You guys heard him talk before, didn't he? How did he talk?" There was such childish glee in her voice.

"He did speak, didn't he?" Senor Pink said, slipping his cigarette out of his mouth. His face and voice darkened as his footsteps clanked across the deck. "What's the meaning of this, Rosinante?"

Silence echoed among them for a moment, as the last of the pirates were finished off by the other members of the Family. Then, a smile slid across Rosinante's face, despite how his body was slumped against the side of the ship, unable to even support itself. Water slid down and pooled beneath his body, darkening the wooden deck below. "Marine Code 01746. Commander Rosinante of the Navy Headquarters."

A sound of disgust passed through the Donquixote Family as they registered his words.

"A traitor! A traitor!" Baby 5 announced excitedly.

"A traitor!" Buffalo echoed, clapping his hands.

"You bastard," Gladius said, stalking up to Rosinante. "To think the Young Master has treated you so well. You don't deserve to live."

"Be careful, Gladius," Lao G cautioned. "He wasn't able to swim before." There was a pause as everyone on the deck digested that. "He's a Devil Fruit user."

Mucus shot towards Rosinante, and he let out a choked cough as the mucus tightly wrapped around his whole body, immobilizing and knocking the breath out of him. He fell to the ground, face first. "Ne, ne, you're quite devious, aren't you? Behehehehe."

"Young Master, he mustn't live! I say we throw him back into the sea and let him drown- zamasu!" Jora suggested.

"Nihihihihi, that sounds like a great idea-innn," Machvise tagged on.

"Let him drown, let him drown!" Baby 5 chanted happily. "Let him _drown!"_

Doflamingo's head ached. "Baby 5, do me a favor and shut up."

"Favor, favor," Baby 5 squealed. "Young Master need me to do him a favor!" Doflamingo looked at her, and she promptly remembered his request and shut up, covering her face with her hands even though that couldn't hide the huge pleased smile that broke out across her face.

Well, at least someone was pleased with the situation.

Doflamingo stood, and the Family members all came to attention as he made his decision.

"Get some sea-stone cuffs on him and toss him in the cellar," he ordered, already walking away. He refused to look back at his little brother, who he could feel staring straight through him; he refused to feel guilt or remorse. "I want to know how much information he leaked."

There was a beat of silence, before Diamante began to laugh. "Uhahahaha, you'll be in a world of pain, Rosinante." There was a sound of shoes meeting flesh, followed by a pained grunt.

Doflamingo almost faltered, but continued moving.

"We'll show you what happen to those who betray Doffy!" Pica declared, his high pitched words echoing in his ears.

The image of Rosinante leaping off the ship, hand reaching for Doflamingo as he fell towards the sea, unwittingly flashed through Doflamingo's mind, and he wondered, who was really betraying who?

Xxx

An hour after Doflamingo left the deck of the ship and returned to his room, he rang the bell sitting on top of his small table.

A few seconds later, running footsteps could be heard approaching the room. Right before his door, they stopped, and then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Doflamingo said, his throat dry.

Baby 5 slipped in. "Young Master, you called?"

"Do me a favor, Baby 5," Doflamingo started, knowing those were the magic words to make Baby 5 complete tasks efficiently, "go to Diamante and relay this message."

"'No permanent damage,'" Baby 5 told Diamante later that day.

Diamante put down the bloody knife he had in hand and picked up a wrench instead. "Ready to talk yet, Rosinante?"

Rosinante was gasping so much that he couldn't even reply.

"Alright," Diamante said, a smile spreading across his face. It could almost be called benign, if not for the sadistic gleam he had in his eyes. "Scream for me, then."

Rosinante resisted, but Diamante was good at what he did.

Rosinante screamed.

Doflamingo looked away from the monitor and tried to sleep.

He woke up with his brother's scream echoing in his mind.

Xxx

Three days later, Diamante had everything he needed. What information Rosinante gave away, when, and to whom, Diamante had them all. He also found out what power Rosinante possessed.

Calm-Calm Fruit. Of all the Devil Fruit his brother could have eaten, he ate a fruit that allowed him to control silence.

 _Silence._

The ability was as useless as its owner.

"Should I try to see what information he has on the Navy Headquarters as well?" Diamante's voice broke through his thought. Doflamingo looked up to see a smirk tugging at his lips. "Give me -"

"No," Doflamingo cut in, unwilling to hear the rest. He pulled back his hand from his ready-to-use-his-Devil-Fruit pose, and loosely clenched it instead. He will not use his powers on his Family. "No," he repeated unnecessarily, and tried to calm his beating-too-quickly heart. "You left our finance alone too long, Diamante."

Diamante chuckled. "You make it sound like I'm the only one who can manage our finance, Doffy."

"You _are_ the only one who can manage our finance," Doflamingo said, letting a smirk cross his face because he knew how this would go.

"Stop it, Doffy. I'm not the only capable one."

Doflamingo _hmmed_. "Okay, I'll stop then."

"Alright, I'll admit it if you insist!" Diamante declared on cue. Doflamingo inwardly chuckled, and some of the weight on his heart lifted. "Yes, I am the one most capable of managing our finance!"

"Yes, you are," Doflamingo confirmed indulgently. "Leave Rosinante to me and go resume your duties."

"Alright, if you say, Doffy."

"I do, Diamante," Doflamingo said. "I do."

Xxx

Another two days passed before Doflamingo rang his bell again.

"Yes, Young Master?" Baby 5 said, always eager to be a help.

"Go clean Rosinante up and get him some food, Baby 5," he ordered.

Baby 5 wrinkled her nose, momentarily brought out of her pleasant mood induced by the thought of being useful to someone. "But he's a traitor and he stinks!"

Doflamingo's stomach roiled, but outwardly, he did not react. "I'm going to see him later, Baby 5. Do you really want me to go see him like that?"

"Ah, don't go see him yet! He icky with blood and stuff, and will dirty Young Master!" Baby 5 hurried out of the room. "Give me one hour! I'll do this because" - her voice turned into mush - "you need me~~"

A smile slipped across his face at the sight of Baby 5's antics.

He glanced sideways at the monitor displaying Rosinante's bloody form, and the smile slipped away, gone as quickly as it came.

Like sand slipping through his grasping hands.

Xxx

Doflamingo stepped into the cellar and despite Baby 5's attempt to clean up, he could still smell them: the blood, sweat and urine that lingered teasingly beneath the smell of seawater.

The fear, terror and pain that were palpable in the air.

Doflamingo walked forward until he was in his brother's sight. "Rosinante."

His brother flinched.

Doflamingo's finger twitched, like he was about to attack whatever boogeyman that caused the reaction, except _he_ was that boogeyman.

His brother feared him, and he had every reason to.

He _should_ fear him, because Doflamingo was not a forgiving person and Rosinante _betrayed_ him.

( _"Doffy!" Rosinante shouted, throwing himself off the ship after Doflamingo, hand reaching out for him._

 _They both sunk.)_

"What do you have to say for yourself, Roci?" Doflamingo asked, his voice deliberately steady and mocking.

Slowly, painstakingly, Rosinante lifted his head. Blood was running down the right side of his face, so steadily that it was like a permanent fixture of his features. His arms were cuffed above him to the wall with sea-stones, and although his legs could touch the ground, they no longer seemed capable of supporting him. Cuts and bruises littered all over his body and for once, Doflamingo knew Rosinante didn't cause any of that from his own clumsiness.

Doflamingo felt sick.

Rosinante's mouth parted, and Doflamingo's gaze automatically zoomed in on them, on his split, pale lips. For a second, nothing came out. Then, his brother's cracked voice drifted to his ears. "I don't regret anything."

 _Don't regret what?_ Doflamingo thought, even as he relished at the sound of his brother's voice. _Don't regret becoming a government's dog? Don't regret trying to betray me?_

 _Don't regret trying to save me when I fell?_

Doflamingo swept away that last thought.

"Even when it brought you this, little brother?" Doflamingo said instead. He stepped forward, refusing to retreat in person even when he had already retreated in thought, and pressed his fingers to the blood running down Rosinante's face. Rosinante flinched backwards, and at that moment, sickening delight passed through Doflamingo, even as another part of him was disgusted by the reaction he elicited in both his brother and himself.

"Don't touch me!" Rosinante hissed, and it was cute how his brother was trying so hard to sound strong when reality he was so foolish and _weak_.

Doflamingo took another step forward, until he was practically in Rosinante's space and he could feel his brother's body trembling against his. He smelled disgusting, and the filth that transferred from him to Doflamingo's clothes and skin wasn't any better. Doflamingo ignored that in favor of leaning up to Rosinante's face, tightly gripping his cuffed wrist for the mere message and feeling that Rosinante was _completely at Doflamingo's mercy_ , and laughed _._

"You didn't have any qualms that night when you slept in my bed, my arms around you and your head pillowed to my chest," Doflamingo uttered lowly, his deliberately sensual and misleading words hanging between them. If he had thought Rosinante couldn't have turned any paler, Doflamingo had just been proven wrong. "Fufufufufu, I even woke up to you around me and your hand in my hair. How _bold_ of you, little brother."

"You -!" Rosinante started, and that was all he got out before Doflamingo slid his hand in Rosinante's hair - like how Rosinante did for him previously. The act was the same, but the _intent_ \- and slammed his brother's head back against the wall, his head _crack_ ing loudly in the silence. "Ahh!"

Doflamingo shoved himself forward, a thigh between his brother's legs and his tongue pushing past his brother's lips. His brother's lips were ridiculously dry and when Rosinante resisted, Doflamingo sharply nipped him until he tasted blood.

Still, his brother didn't heed his warning and torn his head to the side repeatedly until Doflamingo finally took pity on him. Doflamingo pulled back to see his brother glaring at him with his all-too-similar-to-Doflamigo's face. Tears welled in his eyes, eliciting a jolt of thrill to run down his spine, but Rosinante glared so fiercely.

The corner of his lips were smeared with blood.

Doflamingo smirked. "Since when were you this _feisty,_ Roci?"

"Don't – " Rosinante's voice cracked as he blinked and the welled tear slipped free, paving a pink path down the blood on the right side of his face. "Don't presume to know me, you _monster!_ "

"Oh, but I do know you, Roci," Doflamingo crooned, even as his insides clenched painfully, both at his brother's words and the tears. "But let's leave that for another day, should we?"

Doflamingo brought up his hands, watching as Rosinante flinched once more, and then unlocked his brother's sea-stone cuffs.

Rosinante collapsed in a mass of limbs at his feet, unable to brace himself in time as he hit the ground and worsened his injuries.

His pained cry echoed in the cellar.

Doflamingo stared down at him and made no move to help, watching as his brother trembled weakly for a few good minutes.

When Rosinante finally pushed himself up to a sitting position– slipping twice before he finally succeeded – it was with a shaky glare. "What are you playing at, _Doffy_?"

Doflamingo crouched down, ignoring how the ends of his feathered coat was brushing against the dirty floor to look his brother in the eye. "What does it look like, Roci?" he asked, spreading his arms to indicate his innocence as a wide grin split across his face. "I'm magnanimously letting you go, little brother."

Rosinante looked at him suspiciously through tear-filled eyes, and he had every right to be suspicious. Doflamingo wouldn't trust himself either, if he was him.

"I don't want to kill another one of my own flesh and blood," Doflamingo continued breezily, and ignored how much truth those words contained. "So go, little brother," he said, leaning closer to Rosinante. His brother's breath stuttered. "Go, before I _change my mind._ "

Rosinante blinked at him, lost for words, before painstakingly pushed himself to a stand with the help of the wall. "I won't thank you for this, Doflamingo," he said, his voice hard even through a haze of pain. "And I will continue working to stop your madness."

"Go on," Doflamingo said, carelessly waving his hand. "You are a Donquixote, after all," - the corner of his lips lifted, almost fondly as he finished, "always stubborn in your own ways."

Rosinante paused for the briefest seconds at those words, or maybe his injuries were just getting to him. For a second, it looked like he was about to say something, before he finally stumbled away without a single word.

When the last strand of that familiar blond hair disappear out the door, out of sight but never out of mind, Doflamingo plopped down on the floor, losing whatever remaining composure he had. He dropped his head between his knees, then covered his face with his hand and stayed there for the next two hours until Baby 5 poked her head in.

"Young Master, we received news that the traitor has been picked up by a Navy ship," she said.

Doflamingo _hmmed_ in acknowledgement and finally lifted his head.

"Is that so?" he drawled, a huge smirk slashed across his face.

Xxx

Doflamingo lightly landed on the deck of the Navy ship, inwardly musing that Rosinante had been picked up by a rather big ship and wondered how he was supposed to find him.

The sound of approaching footsteps reached his ears.

Doflamingo slowly turned and saw through his tinted shades that about thirty or so Navy men were surrounding him, rifles, guns and swords all pointed in his direction. He could feel a smirk tugging the corner of his lips.

"This is a grand welcome committee, isn't it?" he said, spreading his arms out to his sides. "Did you receive my brother in the same way?"

The marines looked at each other, confusion etched onto those poor bastards' face, before one of them eventually spoke. "Where have you come from?" he demanded, apparently deciding to ignore Doflamingo's questions. Rude. Doflamingo decided that he was sick of his attitude. "Leave before - What?!"

Doflamingo flicked his fingers, attaching near-invisible strings onto the speaking marine, and promptly turned him against his shipmates.

Two shots rang out across the deck, followed by two _thuds._

"What you are doing?!"

"Stop it!"

"Why are you doing this?!"

"Get away from me!" the puppet-marine shouted, shooting yet another person in the stomach with the flick of Doflamingo's wrist. "I can't control myself!" Tears began streaming down his face when he tried to resist against the strings and found that he couldn't. "You!" he shouted in Doflamingo's direction, gaze accusing and fearful. "What have you _done_?"

"Fufufufu, reduced you to your natural state," Doflamingo replied, dodging a sword that another marine finally had the mind to aim at him. Doflamingo attached strings to him too. "Puppets to be manipulated," he finished with a flourish, before setting that puppet against the other marines too.

"Now," he said casually, almost bored, "anyone want to tell me where is he?" Doflamingo's shades glinted in the cheery sun. "Where is the man you just picked up?"

"Please!" the first puppet cried, and promptly volunteered the directions to the infirmary. "I told you, so just - "

A smirk stretched across Doflamingo's face.

"Alright," he said, and with the flick of his wrist, he threw the puppet into the path of an incoming sword. Blood splattered across the horrified attacker's face as the puppet looked at him, stunned and betrayed. Doflamingo detached his strings. The puppet fell to the ground and landed in his own puddle of blood, reduced to just one of the many other fallen marines that were on the deck. "There."

Doflamingo walked towards the infirmary and no one stopped him, frightened like little lambs and distracted by his other puppet that was swinging his sword around. He reached the infirmary without any interruption and walked down the aisle, peering at the beds until he finally came across his brother in one of them.

Rosinante was sleeping, his body so still that he could almost be mistaken for dead if not for the machine showing the steady beeping of his heart. Under the infirmary's white lighting, he was still very pale, and his bruises and wounds were even more apparent.

 _He looks peaceful,_ Doflamingo thought as he reached out with a hand. He brushed a strand of Rosinante's blond hair away, purposely grazing his hand against his brother's face. He barely made a twitch, and his heartbeat was still steady. Doflamingo placed his whole hand against Rosinante's face, caressing it and making small circles as he slipped his hand lower and lower, and still, there was no reaction.

 _What line do I have to cross,_ Doflamingo wondered, tracing his hand over his brother's bandaged chest, _to sear myself deep into your memory, into your life?_ Doflamingo leaned closer until his face was at the junction of Rosinante's neck and inhaled sharply. _And what wouldn't I give to see your reaction to it_?

Doflamingo stayed there for a moment, before finally pulling back to stare down at Rosinante's still form. He flicked his hand. "Time to wake up, _Roci_ ~" Doflamingo sing-songed.

The unconscious body of Rosinante rose from the bed with the help of his strings. It also wrapped its hands around a gun and a sword, slaughtered any marine that it came across, and drenched itself in their sickening, disgusting blood.

Those who managed to get a hit on Rosinante's body, Doflamingo attached strings to them and flung them into the path of any incoming bullet or sword.

When at last all had fallen and the deck was splattered with blood, internal organs and bodies, Doflamingo let go of his hold on his puppets. They all fell with a splash against the bloody deck and among them, one let out a cry.

There was only one person he left alive.

Doflamingo's gaze dropped to Rosinante, who was face down in the filth on the deck, and waited for him to stir.

He didn't.

 _That's some painkiller and drugs they got in him,_ Doflamingo thought detachedly.

The only other thought on his mind was that he almost regretted not being able to see Rosinante's reaction when he woke up amidst all the bodies and see the blood on his hands, in his clothes, on his body, and know that blood still pumped through his veins while all other marines' laid spilled on across the deck. All because of him.

"Goodbye, little brother," Doflamingo said, a soft smile on his face. Rosinante's prone body didn't react. "Here's my final gift to you."

Doflamingo walked away.

Xxx

Doflamingo didn't hear about the slaughter in the newspaper since it was quickly hushed by the government, but he did know the ship with Rosinante on it was found when Tsuru visited him without canons trying to sink his ship.

"Getting soft in your old age, _Tsuru_?" Doflamingo leered, but Tsuru merely looked at him, calm as always.

Or not, judging by the thin undercurrent of anger in her eyes.

Doflamingo's lips stretched into a smirk.

"So you found the ship," Doflamingo said. "Tell me, how did he react? Sobbed like a baby? Threw a tantrum like a child? Oh, _do tell._ "

Tsuru's lips parted and her voice, tranquil and so unlike the anger reflected in her eyes, came through.

"He woke up to a sea of blood and noticed the weapons by his side, the thin strings in his clothes, and the bodies surrounding him, and screamed himself hoarse until someone finally found the ship drifting aimlessly in the sea. Even as he was being treated, he continued to scream and when he finally lost his voice, he cried silently and pitifully for days on. He fell unconscious on the third day of all of this, and when he woke up a week later, the first thing he did was try to kill himself." Tsuru looked at him, eyes frigid cold and so full of disdain that they stabbed straight through Doflamingo. "Is that what you want to hear, _boy_?"

It took Doflamingo a moment to gather himself; he couldn't tell how much of what Tsuru said was the truth and how much of it was exaggeration.

"He won't break," Doflamingo finally settled on saying, his voice cracking at the last syllable, and he wondered who he was trying to convince. "He's a Donquixote."

Tsuru looked at him for a long while and Doflamingo wanted to squirm under her all-knowing eyes, but kept his body relaxed like he was perfectly content instead.

She snorted.

"Like that means a damn thing," she said.

The coat on her shoulders fluttered in the wind as she turned to leave, boldly displaying the word Justice, and in that moment, he was glad that she wasn't looking.

He couldn't breathe; the image of his father and brother, both covered in blood, flashed through his mind.

 _"He's a Donquixote."_

 _"Like that means a damn thing."_

Somehow, he was sure Tsuru knew, anyway.

Xxx

Now when Doflamingo slept, an additional person haunted his dreams.

He always woke up from them with cold sweat prickling across his body, chanting, "He won't break, he won't break," the accusing looks of his father and brother burning into his mind.

Xxx

Years passed and there was no news of Rosinante. During that time, the Donquixote Family rose to power until finally, the Government could no longer ignore it and offered Doflamingo to be one of the Shichibukai

Doflamingo accepted it, and if his bored visits to the Navy Headquarters were strangely frequent and pointed, no one dared mention it.

Xxx

Over time, many others would fall prey to Doflamingo, either by his or his Family's hands, but only _those two_ would ever linger on his ( _conscience)_ mind.

Xxx

When they finally met again, it was with a battlefield between them, Doflamingo and his Family on one side, Rosinante and the Navy on the other.

Doflamingo sought Rosinante out amongst the sea of Marine, and smiled.

His fingers, his strings, flicked out, and _Silence_ covered the battlefield.

Their eyes met each other across the distance, and in that instance, they both knew that their story could have never ended in any other way but this.

* * *

This chapter didn't have nearly as much Doffy-Roci interaction as I imagined, but I hope you guys enjoyed reading it nevertheless. The ending gave me a little trouble. I always knew they were going to meet again on opposite ends of a battlefield but I wasn't sure what mood I wanted to end it on, so I settled for a showdown kind of thing because in the end, notwithstanding their brotherly consideration towards each other, Doffy and Rosinante have always been clashing forces, haven't they?

A random side note that even though Doffy noted that Rosinante's Silence ability honestly feels like the most useless ability ever (with the exception of stealth, as shown in canon), I can't help but think as I was writing this how useful it would have been on a large scale battlefield. Everyone will be following the chain-of-command and shouting orders and all of a sudden, everyone is still shouting but no orders could be heard or comprehended. Imagine the chaos that follows, trying to command a huge group of people in silence, while your enemies are still as coordinated as before, only worse because now you can't even hear what their orders are. You see them coming, but have no idea what they are planning. You guys are stuck there trying to communicate through gestures like idiots, while your enemies are communicating maneuvers and you can't hear a damn thing to get a hint of what they are planning. I think Rosinante is incredible, especially if he lived long enough to learn this.

Tsuru's scene in this was inspired by fowo on ao3, who wrote the most amazing Tsuru-Doffy interactions.

Anyway, thank you for reading and I really appreciate all the comments you guys left!


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